The Research Link 2000 Institute took place on the campus of Ferris State University, Big Rapids, Michigan, August 12-15, 1999. The Research Institute was designed to assist faculty/student teams with learning how to adopt a research system at their home institution.  Twenty five institutional teams were selected to participate based geographical location, nature of the institution (community college, public/private, etc), and written proposals that outlined how they plan to implement the research systems at their home institutions, and the anticipated impact on the curriculum.  Eighty-five participants attended the conference.  The following institutions attended:

Butler University
Chaminade University of Hawaii
Coastal Carolina
Concordia University
DePauw University
Eastern College
East Tennessee State
Heidelberg College
Idaho State University
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Ithaca College
Kent State University
Kingwood College
Mecosta Osceola Intermediate School District
McMurry University
Montgomery College
Northwestern College
Sacred Heart University
Tennessee Technological University
Trinity University
University of Kentucky
University of Memphis
University of Scranton
Wheaton University
William Patterson University           

Institutional teams (faculty/student or two faculty) presented a poster describing current undergraduate research programs on their campus, and their plans to do one or more of the following:  (a) utilize Research Link 2000 to implement an undergraduate research program, (2) move toward a research-based lab curriculum or (3) expand existing undergraduate research opportunities. 

Workshop Sessions:  During the 3-day institute, institutional teams selected two research systems and learned all the techniques needed  for implementing the system at their home institution.  Several examples of undergraduate labs utilizing the systems were also presented.  Participants were also able to learn the basics of the other eight research systems during special openhouse sessions that were held each day.

Invited Speakers:

·        Doug Kline, Kent State University.  Linking Research and Teaching in the Undergraduate Science Lab.

·        Debra Colodner, Director of the Earth Semester at Biosphere 2.  Biosphere 2: The Ultimate Research System.

Follow-Up:  All institutional teams will be contacted by the Research 2000 Team and asked for progress reports on how they are moving toward implementing a research system at their home institution.  Encouragement and assistance will be given as needed by the authors of the research systems.  The web site will continue to be a valuable resource for communicating problems and helping faculty and students link up with individuals who can offer assistance.